Maeks fishel



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARKS FISHEL, OF NEW YORK', N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN INSTRUMENTS FOR PUNCTURING FABRICS AND INTRODUCING FLAT SKIRT-WIRE THEREIN.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 55,267, dated Julie 5, 1866.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARKS FIsHEL, ofthe city of New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and Improved Needle or Puncturin g Device Adapted for the Manufacture of Skeleton-Skirts; and I do hereby declare that the following` is a full and exact description thereof.

My invention is intended for the manufacture of that class of skeleton-skirts in which tapes or equivalent narrow strips of material are employed to support the hoops or springs.

I have discovered that tapes and analogous fabrics of cotton and the like material, as ordinarily' woven, may be punctured and the hole gradually enlarged to a sufticient'size to receive a hoop without involving difficulty by breaking the threads either of the warp or weft, and without materially impairin g the d urability of the fabric. My invention is based 011 this discovery. I canv enlarge the hole to a size somewhat greater than the hoop which it is to receive, and can line or defend it by any suitable material-as, for example, by an eyelet properly introducedbut I have not usually found it. necessary to do so. I have determined by experiment that a skirt will endure ordinary usage for a very long period when the hoop, covered in the ordinary manner with braid or the like, is introduced and supported directlyin the holes so made in the tape, and prevented from slipping` endwise by a clasp or equivalent fastening.

I will now proceed to describe minutely what' I consider the best means of carrying out my invention.

The accompanying drawingsform a part of this specification.

Figures l to S, inclusive, represent the skirt and parts thereof, and is intended to form the subject of another patent. They will be readily understood with the explanation simply that Figs. 2 and 8 are the exterior, and Fig. 4 the interior, faces of a tape. Fig. 9 is a longitudinal section of my peculiar -needle or case, which I iit on the end of the hoop material. Fig. 10 is a top or edge view. Fig. 11 shows the needle in the act of opening a passage for the hoop through the tape. These three figures show the hoop properly introduced into the needle. Figs. 12, 13, 14, and 15 represent sections of the needle at corresponding points on Figs. 9 and 10. Fig. 16 shows the metal for a needle. The metal is cut in this form and folded subsequently.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

A A, Ste., are ordinary tapes, woven as single tapes in the ordinary manner, and are each cut of the proper length required from a roll or other long piece of such tape without regard to the number of hoops which they are to support.

B B are ordinary springs or hoops. They are made of flat tempered steel covered with cotton braid, with their ends joined by a clasp, as represented.

C is a device which I term a needle, and is employed for the purpose of properly introducing the hoops through the tapes. The needle C is made of iron or steel, and may be conveniently formed by cutting good sheet-iron of athickness about one sixty-fourth of an inch, bending it around and joining the edges by brazing. The point should be sharp and the exterior of the needle very smooth and nicely rounded. The other end should be flattened, as indicated, and of a size just sufficient to receive the end of the hoop and to fit tightly thereon.

To construct my skirt I mount the tapes in the ordinary manner on a suitable frame, (not represented,) so as toreadily determine the point at which each hoop should cross each tape, and apply the needle successively to the end of each of the hoops, so that it may be introduced through the tapes at the proper points in advance of each hoop successively, and be gently forced through by the force of the hand applied either to itself or to the hoop which is inserted in it. I introduce the point of the needle C at the two points b b2., as represented in Fig. 11, and the material of the tape is opened by the smoothly-tapered needle G to a sufficient size to admit the passage of the largest end of the needle.` This large en d of the needle is obviously somewhat larger than the hoop, so that the hoop can be easily moved forward after the needle has passed. I thus introduce the hoop successively through all the tapes. I subsequently join the ends of the hoops by a clasp in the ordinary manner. I

next apply clasps D, having each four legs or prongs, as indicated in Figs. 5 and 6. These may be made from sheet-brass and bent by machinery in the well-known manner. I apply these at the points and in the position indicated in Figs. 2, 3, et andS, and bend the legs d d together by the aid of a pair of pliers. These legs embrace the hoop alone and stand just outside of one of the edges of the tape. The other legs, d d', puncture the material of the tape A and embrace a portion of it as well as the hoop. The legs d d are subsequently bent together and compressed upon the hoop B. This may be done by pliers 5 but I prefer to effect this operation with great rmness and rapidity by the aid of clasping-machines similar to those commonly used by skirt manufacturers. In this position the clasps D serve not only to prevent the hoops B from slipping laterally through the tapes A, but also to prevent the edges of the latter from being folded over andto prevent the tape from being folded together and drawn into too narrow a compass.

My needle C diers from all devices of analogous character previously' known to me in the fact that it is sharp at the point, hollow andat at the large end, and rounded and 

